Given: The Forgotten Meaning and Practice of Blessing

Our efforts to express blessing to others often become routine and trite. However, reading this book will awaken the spirit to the power of words of blessing.

I started reading Tina Boesch’s book like a freight train rushing to its destination. Instead, I found myself on a slow hike, immersing myself in the words that caused me to observe Scripture and principles of blessing in a new way. Her words left me captivated with a desire to be like Jacob and wrestle with God until receiving a blessing.

Tina tells the biblical story with great attention to narrative detail and has chosen her examples astutely. Interwoven with all this are many wonderful stories from her own and others’ lives, which illuminate the themes she’s trying to get across.

In our day, “blessing” has sadly been reduced to a hashtag, frequently used in a shallow or braggadocio way. But in Given, Tina Boesch unpacks the richness of the biblical meaning of blessing. Her writing is exquisite, poetic, and rooted in the biblical narrative. In the truest sense of the word, Tina has richly blessed the family of God with her book. I highly recommend!

Tina Boesch can bless in a wide range of modes: artist, art scholar, tour guide, theological teacher, evangelist, hostess, daughter, sister, friend, wife, mother, and more. This beautiful book comes from a heart ready to bless, a mind brimming with good things, and a mouth able to put things fitly, “like apples of gold in a setting of silver” (Proverbs 25:11)—all bundled with a strong back, capable hands, and a quick smile. Come and be blessed!

Given is a book that should not be ignored. In it, Tina Boesch explores the biblically significant notion of “blessing.” Rejecting both the prosperity gospel’s reduction of “blessing” to economic success and many evangelicals’ reduction of it to some sort of vague future hope, she argues that the ultimate expression of blessing is the Cross, where Christ gave himself on our behalf, blessing us so that we could bless others—even our enemies. In a delightful and surprising manner, Given not only explores the richness of biblical teaching but also takes the reader on a journey through history and across the globe. Highly recommended.

A year or so ago, I was led to Tina Boesch’s blog and soon found myself binge-reading her posts. She has a tremendous way with the English language—her prose is redolent, Christ centered, even pungent at times, but always winsome. And this book is no exception. I have long thought that blessings and benedictions are a lost art among evangelicals, and Tina’s book is the very thing we need to recover a vital part of our heritage. May it be widely read, appreciated, and put into practice!

Given brings back the soul songs we should’ve been singing to each other for centuries. It’s like a deep breath that pulls the reader into a place of rest, a place where God himself and his goodness is enough—a place where we live to share that goodness with others.

What the next generation looks for is legacy. How do the decisions we make today affect their tomorrows? In this book, Tina talks about what’s obvious and not-so-obvious in the legacy of blessing that we offer to those in our lives. Her perspective is practical and demonstrated through history and personal experience. If we’re able to extend that hope to others, we hold a gift few fully comprehend.